Soul-Nourishing Jade in Hand

That day, Lin Chen changed into gray cloth clothes, put on a bull-head mask, and came to the auction house.

He had bought the mask on a whim.

He had chosen a bull-head mask because it suddenly reminded him of an animation he had watched in his previous life.

One line from it had stuck with him: Bull Warrior never takes off his mask!

Once the thought struck, Lin Chen went with it and bought the mask.

"Invitation."

Someone guarded the auction entrance. One of them held out a hand, his voice hoarse.

Lin Chen handed over his invitation. The man took it and carefully checked the hidden pattern. Only after confirming it was genuine did he step aside.

"By the rules, no fighting or projecting your spiritual sense inside the auction house. Violators will be expelled on the spot," the guard stressed.

Lin Chen gave a slight nod and entered. After passing through a long corridor, the space opened up before him.

The auction hall was semicircular, with a raised platform at the front for the sale. Below it stood over a hundred dark wooden chairs, spaced apart from one another.

Most of the seats were already occupied.

Like Lin Chen, everyone either hid behind a mask or wrapped themselves in a cloak. Their auras were sealed tight, without a drop leaking out, and a quiet, wary atmosphere filled the hall.

Lin Chen found an empty seat in a back corner and looked over the room.

He could sense an aura in one corner of the hall that made no attempt to hide itself, holding the entire auction in check.

An expert behind the market, here to prevent trouble at the auction...

The thought passed through Lin Chen's mind. He closed his eyes and waited quietly.

Clang—

After a while, a clear bell rang out, drowning the low murmur of conversation.

A small door beside the auction platform opened, and a slender woman stepped out.

She looked about twenty-five or twenty-six. She wore a dark red dress and a half-mask that revealed only her delicate jaw and rosy lips.

"Welcome, honored guests, to today's auction."

The woman's voice was clear and bright, carrying just the right hint of a smile as it reached every corner of the hall.

"I am Hong Yuan, your host today. The rules are as before: the highest bidder wins, with payment and goods exchanged on the spot..."

After the brief introduction, Hong Yuan looked around with a smile.

An attendant stepped onto the platform carrying a jade tray. Ten small white jade bottles stood neatly upon it.

Hong Yuan parted her red lips. "Our first lot: ten bottles of Bone-Forging Pills, eight pills per bottle. They strengthen sinews and bones and temper the body, making them highly beneficial to disciples in the body-refining stage. A small sect or Lineage could distribute them among its members. The opening bid is two hundred Spirit Stones, with increments of at least ten."

As soon as she finished, several people below leaned forward slightly.

Such basic cultivation resources were hardly rare, but the quantity made them useful for training disciples.

A burly man in a tiger-head mask soon called out, "Two hundred and ten Spirit Stones."

A deep voice came from the other side. "Two hundred and twenty Spirit Stones."

"Two hundred and fifty Spirit Stones." A somewhat round figure in a brown cloak near the front raised the price.

The other bidders hesitated and fell silent, but the man in the tiger-head mask kept bidding.

The two went back and forth. Once the first lot reached three hundred Spirit Stones, the man in the tiger-head mask gave up.

They were only pills for Body Tempering Realm warriors, after all. Even in that quantity, they were not worth too high a price.

Hong Yuan swept a smiling gaze across the hall. "Three hundred Spirit Stones. Any higher bids?"

After a brief pause, she tapped her small hammer down. "Sold! Congratulations to our guest."

Next came the second lot.

This time, an attendant brought up a transparent crystal jar filled with fine golden sand that shimmered faintly under the lights.

"Three jin of Flowing Yellow Sand from the West Mountain Mine Vein. Fine in texture and rich in earth-aspected spiritual energy, it is an excellent supplementary material for crafting protective armor and can also be used in certain elemental formations. The opening bid is three hundred Spirit Stones, with increments of at least ten."

More people joined the bidding this time. The price climbed to nearly five hundred Spirit Stones before a cultivator shrouded entirely in black robes won it.

Then came the third lot, the fourth...

Lin Chen sat quietly. The cultivation manuals, unusual weapons, and special pills did not tempt him. He had only one target.

"The twelfth lot—"

At last, Hong Yuan's voice brought Lin Chen to attention.

An attendant came forward holding a piece of silk, with a jade pendant resting on his palm.

The pendant was round and milky white throughout, smooth and lustrous as fat. Wisps of cloud seemed to drift within it.

"Soul-Nourishing Jade, carved from a century-old jade core of Southern Frontier's Warm Jade Valley. Wearing it steadies the soul and eases mental exhaustion. Over time, its gentle nourishment also offers a slight benefit to the growth of spiritual sense."

Hong Yuan channeled a little spiritual power into the Soul-Nourishing Jade. Several people near the platform felt a peaceful aura ripple outward.

"This jade is quite useful to those who practice secret arts that strain the mind, or who have suffered injuries to their spiritual sense. The opening bid is seven hundred Spirit Stones, with increments of at least fifty."

The hall fell quiet for a moment.

As Lin Chen had expected, the Soul-Nourishing Jade had an unusual effect. Rare though it was, most warriors would find a mighty weapon or a bottle of pills that improved their cultivation far more practical.

"Seven hundred and fifty Spirit Stones."

At last, a person in a black hood on the left made a bid, their voice raspy.

"Eight hundred Spirit Stones," said a woman in a silver-white mask on the other side.

"Nine hundred Spirit Stones."

Lin Chen, wearing his Bull Warrior mask, spoke calmly and entered the bidding without hesitation.

"Nine hundred and fifty Spirit Stones."

The black-hooded bidder continued.

The woman in the silver-white mask seemed to hesitate, then bid again as well.

The price rose through several more rounds. When it reached one thousand one hundred Spirit Stones, the woman in the silver-white mask fell silent and withdrew.

That left only one person competing with Lin Chen.

"One thousand two hundred Spirit Stones."

Lin Chen's tone did not change.

The black-hooded bidder turned to look toward Lin Chen. Even through the mask, his scrutiny was unmistakable.

"One thousand four hundred Spirit Stones." He raised the bid again, though his voice had grown much duller.

Two hundred Spirit Stones in one jump?

Lin Chen remained unmoved. "One thousand five hundred Spirit Stones."

The black-hooded man went still. His fingers clenched inside his sleeve, but he said nothing more.

He had once fought a powerful enemy and taken a palm strike to the crown of his head. Though he had killed his foe in the end, the blow had left a hidden injury. Every midnight, his head felt as if it would split apart, and his cultivation had grown sluggish.

He had long had his eye on the Soul-Nourishing Jade to treat that injury. He had thought a little over a thousand Spirit Stones would be enough to secure it, never expecting someone else to bid so resolutely. In the end, he had fallen one move short.